Pakistan focuses on business friendly environment

ISLAMABAD, March 01 (APP): The government of Pakistan is focusing on creating a business-friendly environment that will be a boost to economy and attract foreign direct investment in the country, Gulf News reported.
Speaking at a conference on Pakistan-Economy, Capital Market, Private
Equity and CPEC (China Pakistan Economy Corridor), organised by J Awan and Partners, Pakistan Ambassador to the UAE Moazzam Ahmad Khan said that the reforms undertaken by the government have brought in macro-economic stability resulting in lower budget deficit, and increased foreign exchange reserves, the news report added.
Moazzam Ahmad Khan states, “Over the past 3 years, the government has been able to bring down fiscal deficit from 8.6 per cent to 4.2 per cent; increase tax-to-GDP ratio from 9.8 per cent to 12.4 per cent and contain inflation to well below 3 per cent.” “Our foreign exchange reserves stand at a comfortable level of $23 billion (Dh84.48 billion). This year Pakistan is set to cross the 5 per cent GDP growth threshold, and is projected to grow over 8 per cent in the next decade.”
The ambassador said equities and stock markets have been performing well with Pakistan benchmark PSE100 index, crossing 49,000 in January 2017 and is set to break the barrier of 50,000 shortly.
On China Pakistan Economic Corridor, he said infrastructure expansion of over $55 billion is being implemented under the programme, including investments of more than $35 billion in the energy sector. “Road and Rail infrastructure, Industrial Parks and Economic Zones along the length and breadth of Pakistan will culminate in state of the art Deep Sea Port at Gwadar.
He added, “At a market capitalization of $89 billion, Pakistan Stock
Exchange is among the best performing markets of Asia and indeed the world.
Perhaps for this reason Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) has decided to upgrade the Karachi Stock Exchange to Emerging Market Index.”
In time, Gwadar is expected to service not only Pakistan and the Asian
continent, but, by slashing distances and cutting costs, also the markets of the Middle East and North Africa region,” he said.